Sports Boat Sailing Team
- 2 x Gold - Ukraine National Championships
- Silver - British National Championships
- Silver - Portuguese National Championships
- Silver - British Sprint Championships
- Bronze - Belgium and Dutch National Championship
- 12th World Championships
#GameChanger is a sailing team based in Ukraine, racing internationally with a unique and visionary set of goals.
Founded by revolution veteran and international award winning lawyer Julia, the team was created to push the limits of what society has deemed achievable. Aged 32 and with no previous sailing experience, Julia, who has always loved the water and the idea of sailing, set the aims of wanting to win an international title in sailing. Connecting the world through yacht clubs and common goals. As well as expanding and developing sailing in Ukraine. With the majority of the world calling her crazy, she set up #GameChanger.
Partnering with previous cadet and 470 sailor Semen, she turned to the Sports Boat.
Fast forward just 12 months and the team (who can’t sail in Ukraine in the winter because it freezes), have forged a strong relationship with Clube Naval de Cascais to train and race during the colder months, and travelled to the United Kingdom to race against 79 other teams who have been sailing for decades, and the world championships. With Julia on the helm, a team of 3 amateur sailors supported by 1 pro, the team finished an incredible 12th overall….. after just 1 year of sailing. A remarkable feat!
The team went on to win the national title in Ukraine, as well as other events in Portugal. The team went on to take the next brave step and set up as a fully amateur, 100% Ukrainian team. Having already built bridges with clubs in Cascais, Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes, UK, they competed in the European Championships at the Royal Irish Yacht Club. They went on to win silver at the British sprint series and then silver at the British national championships, making it a trio of silver medals at the Portuguese national championships, before winning bronze at the Belgian national championships, and finishing with silver at the Ukrainian national championships. 5 medals from 5 events after just 2.5 years sailing, and just a few months as an all Ukrainian, amateur team.
Outside of their own sailing, Julia and the team have helped legally reform the Ukrainian sailing federation, have had representatives on the board, created the first annual calendar for sailing in Ukraine, have installed a new launching ramp to support junior sailing at the local club, increased the number of regular teams sailing in Ukraine, donated boats to junior sailors and even supported some of the Ukrainian Olympic sailors to get to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Finally, Julia has been invited to sit on the SB20 world council, representing Ukraine at an international level.
Quite the program, while also being the youngest partner in Ukraine at a major law firm, setting up and running your own law firm, winning various European Legal awards every year, being ranked as one of the top business women in the world, and working on multiple continents.
We are hugely excited and proud to be able to support and work with the whole #GameChanger Sailing Team!
